AutoCAD Exchange

July 06, 2011

AutoCAD 2011 for Mac and Mac OS X Lion

If you're a Mac user, you're likely aware of the imminent release of Lion, the next version of the Mac OS X operating system. In fact, you may be looking forward to upgrading as soon as it rears its head on the Mac App Store. If you're an AutoCAD 2011 for Mac user, Autodesk has one recommendation:

Don't. Not yet.

Autodesk engineers have been hard at work testing AutoCAD 2011 for Mac running on Mac OS X Lion; identifying and fixing issues that the new operating system has introduced. That said, AutoCAD for Mac will NOT officially support Lion when it is released–which is anticipated to be very soon. The issues they have identified with Lion has prompted a very strong recommendation that you wait to upgrade to Lion any system also running AutoCAD 2011 for Mac.

As explained in the solution above, there will be a beta program announced in the near future for a service pack that will add support for Mac OS X Lion. I'll also make an announcement here when that beta program starts.

As a rule, I approach OS upgrades with trepidation anyway. As interesting and exciting as new operating systems can be, it can also be a huge disruption to my workflow if I suddenly find the applications I rely on every day are not yet supported. I've been burned before so I approach my OS upgrades cautiously. I research which of my critical apps are (and are not) supported and, when the time is right, I always, always, always, create a full system backup to which I can revert if things go wrong.

When released, Mac OS X Lion will be available for download from the Mac App Store for $29. That convenience, immediacy, and price is going to make it really tempting to just… do it. Make sure all your critical apps are compatible before you do. An OS upgrade can be a hard thing to reverse.